Creepshow is a well loved horror anthology and Second Sight have delivered a huge treat, with no trick, to its fans. The film looks and sounds amazing and the extras will keep you going until next Halloween. Horror all-stars Stephen King and George A. Romero serve up six films in one: a wraparound with Tom Atkins, a dad from the dead in the excellent and still scary, Father’s Day; Stephen King turning into a plant in the loathsome The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill; Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson facing off in the Something to Tide You Over; an angry and drunk Adrienne Barbeau in The Crate and E.G. Marshall going absolutely bug nuts in They’re Creeping Up on You.
Apart from the infuriating The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, they’re all great stuff. Tom Savini’s effects rock throughout and the cast is superb. Tide You Over is masterful and The Crate still packs some scares, even though the beasty looks a bit naff now. Father’s Day is the best by far.
As films to watch at Halloween go, you can’t really beat Creepshow for a pick ‘n’ mix of tales guaranteed to tickle your fun and fear receptors. The disc looks and sounds the business too. The transfer is sharp but retains it’s grain, while the audio comes in the forms of a lossless PCM stereo track and a beefy and lively DTS-HD master audio 5.1.
Extras: A commentary with director George A. Romero and make-up maestro Tom Savini is fond and fun, while the second commentary with the director of photography, actor John Amplas, the property master and the make-up effects assistant initially sounds a bit barrel-scraping but is actually kind of cool.
There’s also an exhaustive feature length making of that features interviews with pretty much everyone involved, priceless behind the scenes footage of Tom Savini doing all the creature effects and fifteen minutes worth of Deleted Scenes. The extras are rounded off with a theatrical trailer, the original TV spot and an enormous sixteen stills galleries pictorially documenting everything from the original screenplay to the trading cards.
Second Sight have put together a top notch package here, and if they wouldn’t mind making John Carpenter’s Body Bags their next title I’d be very grateful.
Alan has awarded Creepshow (1982) on Blu-ray four Torches of Truth
